Saturday, November 6, 2010

Coming Up on Top Shelf

This doesn't have anything to do with the Sabres, but it does have to do with this blog and some upcoming changes so if you're at all interested, keep reading.

A few weeks back, I was asked if I would like to join up with Bloguin. Bloguin is a network of blogs, mostly but not all sport- related. I won't go into all the boring details, but I will say that I was pretty familiar with them and some of the blogs on their network. (I'm a particularly devoted reader of Where Have You Gone Andy Van Slyke?) It seemed like a good gig for me - a new banner, a more personalized blog, a solid network of people, and a chance at some revenue - so after talking it over with some people whom I trust, I decided to go for it. Not a lot will change as far as you're concerned, but I did want to give you a heads-up about a few things.

-- The URL will be changing, probably as of Monday. As far as I know, if you continue to come here, you will be re-directed to the new site, at least for a time. If you have me on your blogroll or if you keep up with me through a reader, you might want to update that because once the new site goes live, new material will not be posted here. I will put a note up here when I'm completely moved over there.

-- There will be ads. The standard format used across Bloguin seems to be one ad at the very top of the page and a couple in the sidebar, one "above the fold." I know that ads can be super annoying, but I don't think you'll really notice these. I promise they're not the kind of ads that expand when you accidentally scroll over them (again and again) and they won't follow you around the screen until you acknowledge them. They also won't play music or video. They'll just sit there quietly, minding their own business.

Advertising is something I've thought about off and on over the years, and I've seriously talked to people about it a few times. I've never taken the plunge though because it's just me here, and I felt a little out of my element trying to make decisions and negotiate prices. At Bloguin, other people take care of arranging and placing the advertising, and I won't lie, the chance to make a little money doing this is one of the biggest reasons I jumped in. I love writing Top Shelf, but it does take a lot of time out of my schedule. A few extra nickels to rub together would be swell particularly now that I'm in school full-time and only working part-time.

-- At the top of the blog you'll see a Bloguin log-in box. If you open a Bloguin account you're all set up to comment across the Bloguin network, however, you do NOT have to have a Bloguin account to comment here. You can ignore that box completely and go on commenting as always if you so choose. You will have to submit an email address when you comment, but it will NOT be published with your comment and the only person anywhere IN THE WHOLE WORLD who has access to the email addresses used at Top Shelf is me. And I promise, I won't spam you.

-- For really long posts, I might start using a READ MORE cut. I've been told that it looks cleaner to have a lot of short posts on the front page as far as advertisers are concerned, and let's be real, if you click on READ MORE, that's another page view which is how my cut of ad revenue is determined. (So if you're ever really bored at work or in class, come load my blog over and over.) I am personally not a fan of breaking up a post like that so I promise I'll only use cuts for longer posts and if I use one, there will be at least a couple of paragraphs behind the cut. I hate when I click on READ MORE and there's only three more sentences.

I'm pretty excited about giving this a whirl, and really like I said, things are not going to change that much from your point-of-view. I'm still the only one writing here, I have full control over what I write so the style isn't going to change at all. If anything, things are going to be much prettier. I think you'll like it. I hope so.